2013 Centennial High School Varsity Football Schedule

1 down 15 to go!!

Recipe of the week: Watermelon Lemonade

Most people who know me well, know I don't like watermelon, but I buy it because my family likes it.  I try to buy seeded when it's available because it's not genetically modified.  Sprouts sometimes has it, sometimes I have to go to some place like Cardenas market to get it.  Watermelon is great for rehydrating and this past week the weather has been very hot and very humid.  I'm also very susceptible to heat exhaustion (ever since I was a kid and had it one summer at Mono Lake) so I try to drink lots of water and eat plenty of water rich foods.  So this recipe has been bumbling around in my head for a couple of weeks, I like all sorts of lemonade so why not try watermelon lemonade, it came out pretty good.  Let me know what you think.  A Votre Sante!

1 to 2 cups watermelon puree (seeded, chopped and blended)
4-6 lemons depending the the size of your lemons
1 Tbsp raw sugar (you could use Stevia, just reduce the amount)
3 cups of purified water
3 leaves fresh basil (optional)

Cut and seed your watermelon and blend in the blender until you have a nice smooth consistency, it's like juice only thicker.  (About 1/4 to 1/2 of a watermelon depending on the size).  Juice your lemons, making sure there are no seeds and pour into the blender.  Add sugar, water, and basil if desired.  Blend for a couple of minutes and serve.  (Enjoy, you could easily make this a cocktail if you wanted with your choice of alcohol.)

My thoughts on turning 43...

Yesterday was my birthday, yay....happy birthday to me!  It was also the first day of school which for me is sad.  My husband and kids made sure that I woke up to roses, cards, and chocolate, it was very sweet.  Then I did the usual and made breakfast and lunches.  After the kids left I sat down with my coffee and cried a little.  When the kids were in elementary and middle school I looked forward to them going back, now not so much.  It's different now that they're teenagers/adults...I miss them when they're gone more, I really enjoy hanging out with them and their friends.  Ten years ago, I couldn't for the life of me imagine getting to this point but here I am.

Anyway, after a good workout I met three of my friends for lunch.  I am so incredibly blessed to have Godly women in my life, people who love you no matter what, that is a precious gift.  I ran some errands and picked up a cake at Costco, which was amazing (Chocolate Tuxedo Cake)!  Christian and some of his friends were here, along with my girls and they sang happy birthday to me before the guys had to leave for football practice.  Tomorrow I'm going to TAPS with my mom for dinner and next week meeting a couple of friends for dinner at Citrus City Grille.

One of the things I've been thinking about is how at this age it's weird to me that some people I know from high school are having grandkids and some are having babies.  In 2.5 years my kids will all be graduated from high school, Jade will have graduated from college and on to grad school.  She's moving next month to downtown Riverside and starting school at UCR, I'm really proud of the woman she's become and the challenges she's overcome.

The end of the month starts football season and it will be the last year for Christian, as he's a senior!  Crazy.  Pretty soon it will just be Mackenzie at home, then on to being empty nesters.

I am really really blessed.  I have a wonderful family, friends that are like my family (probably closer), I'm in good health and pretty good shape.  I used to be worried about aging and getting older, now not as much (of course I still have my days, who doesn't?).

All in all it was a good day, hoping for a great week, month, year!  Happy Birthday to me! :)